Africa

South Africa

Jake-ache

AS MOURNERS gathered for Nelson Mandela’s funeral in Qunu on December 15th, an opinion poll suggested that South Africa’s sorrow at the loss of its celebrated former president has not translated into much sympathy for the current leader. The survey was carried out in the days following Mr Mandela’s death and published in the Johannesburg Sunday Times. It found that 51% of people think Jacob Zuma should step down as president because of his part in a much-publicised recent scandal. An official report leaked last month found that Mr Zuma derived substantial personal benefit from the $20m of public money spent on his private home at Nkandla. A new swimming pool, amphitheatre and cattle enclosure were part of what was supposed to be a security upgrade.

The opinion poll came after a tough week for Mr Zuma. On December 10th he was booed in front of leaders from 91 countries, including the American president, Barack Obama, at a memorial service for Mr Mandela held at a football stadium in Soweto. The line taken since then by Mr Zuma’s allies in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is that the heckling was orchestrated by a local party faction that has long been hostile to his leadership. An inquiry has even been set up to identify the ringleaders.

The Sunday Times poll suggests a much broader discontent with Mr Zuma. A third of respondents (all of them registered ANC voters) said they were less likely to vote for the party because of Mr Zuma’s role in the Nkandla scandal. More than half believed that Thuli Madonsela, author of the leaked report, had been fair in her investigation of spending on the Nkandla compound. Mr Zuma may have believed that the spirit of national unity inspired by remembrance of Mr Mandela would spare him any further trouble over Nkandla. But it is not working out that way.

We are in for interesting times. I see parallels with Italy under Berlusconi: In South Africa we have...
- a leader in power
- a leader who got into bed with crooks
- a leader who is at times the laughing stock of his peers
- a leader who risks going to jail when not in control of the prosecutors office (and their appointments)
- a leader who is not known for his administrative prowess, leadership skills or command of policy details

I can see Zuma clinging on to power for dear life.

Is this why Zuma is packing the cabinet with Zulus from his tribe? Will a side effect be that the ANC will become a Zulu party and increase tribal rivalry? I wonder if Zuma is using his skills, contacts and the dirt he has from when he was in charge of the ANC's intelligence division in exile to keep people loyal (or else)?

ANC document called “Through the eye of the needle” is stipulating in no uncertain terms of what kind of a leader should lead the ANC. Unfortunately that particular document was overlooked in Polokwane (2007) and in Mangaung (2012) both ANC quinquennial conferences. Allow me to quote it.
“36 A leader (ANC Leader) should constantly seek to improve his capacity to serve the people; he should strive to be in touch with the people all the time, listen to their views and learn from them. He should be accessible and flexible; and not arrogate to himself the status of being the source of all wisdom.

36 A leader (ANC Leader) should win the confidence of the people in her day-to-day work. Where the situation demands, she should be firm; and have the courage to explain and seek to convince others of the correctness of decisions taken by constitutional structures even if such decisions are unpopular. She should not seek to gain cheap popularity by avoiding difficult issues, making false promises or merely pandering to popular sentiment.

37 A leader (ANC Leader) should lead by example. He should be above reproach in his political and social conduct — as defined by our revolutionary morality. Through force of example, he should act as a role model to ANC members and non-members alike. Leading a life that reflects commitment to the strategic goals of the NDR includes not only being free of corrupt practices; it also means actively fighting against corruption”. Philani Lubanyana@Durban South Africa

South Africans I worked with in the Middle East told me that a significant number of young middle class South Africans- Black, White and Asian with higher degrees and/or advanced technical training have all emmigrated away from South Africa in the last decade and a half under the ANC's leadership seeking better opportunities in the UK, Canada, Australia, etc.
They told me young, rural white Afrikaner South Africans now had better opportunities in agriculture in Botswana and Zambia than they did in South Africa and were leaving in droves.
They also tell me that the only reason South Africa hasn't devolved into a complete Zimbabwae- style autocratic kleptocracy are the large number of "private security" firms created in the last two decades fronting for de facto private militias. Curiously, these consist of mixed race senior leadership, predominantly white middle leadership ranks and predominantly black rank & file ranks.
These organizations have created sort of an ad hoc check and balance between the various factions that the ANC nominally leads in a more or less detente status.
Sort of like what the royal houses of feudal Europe used to do with their aristocracy.
But they also tell me it's only a matter of time until South Africa devolves into a failed state like Zimbabwae or Congo so that's why they left.
Of course the popular media mentions nothing of this or buries it back on page nine.

South Africa is not as bad. People go to other countries for better opportunities, and not because they are none in south africa. Some white folks do not like the BEE status happening so they go. South Africa is a free country and I doubt it'll fall anytime soon, there is more good happening that what you mention in your comment,Most african people come to south africa for better opportunities. try and learn about south africa and you'll see what a lovely country it is.

Somehow you miss the point and that is one of squandered opportunity. A country groaning with mineral wealth and massive agricultural potential never seems to miss a chance to miss a chance. I feel desperately sorry for the blacks who rightly looked to the ANC to give them a future and prosperity. However awful apartheid was there was an established government and civil structure in place which gave a strong starting point. Of course the strong communist/socialist idea that wealth would come by taking it from others does not work. Education is the only hope that that has been a disaster. The ANC can forever claim the hero, liberator model but for how long? Bit like the Economist comment years ago that Russia had experienced it 65th exceptionally bad harvest. It is a sensationally beautiful country and such nice people but I am afraid it will get much worse before it gets better.

Q8Dhimmi, there's truth to what you've been told, but I also think you've been told only half the story. I'm South African myself, living overseas for 15 years now. I've noticed that the impression one gets from talking to white South Africans about South Africa varies dramatically depending on who you speak to. I myself have met no shortage who can see no future for the country, who would have you believe the country was a civil warzone, ready to collapse into economic ruin at any moment.

I know that not to be the case, which is not to say that the country has no problems. It's a complex place and people's experiences differ. But more to the point it's not hard to find a particular kind of white South African who is embittered and negative, who feels bereft and disenfranchised, like a stranger in their own land. It's not hard to work out why they might feel that way: the very identity of the country has shifted significantly in the last two decades, making some feel uncomfortable. South Africa is in a sense a different country from the one it was in 1990. For that reason you'll find people who would rather it hadn't changed -- just as it's easy to find Poles who yearn for the days of Soviet communism. Take their words with a pinch of salt.

There's always two sides to every story, but each successive SA President since Mandela has seemed a step backwards. The ANC gives the impression of looking after its own through BEE. The well paid easy 'work' goes to the politically connected. How else do Union leaders and party hacks become millionaires?

My experience of SA is also largely from my years working as a Qatar-dhimmi and a short stay in Cape Town.

Oh yes, don't get me wrong. The current ANC government are wrong-headed and Zuma is a moron. But beware of simplistic negative summaries offered by the bitter; the overall picture is both more complex and not as bad as some would paint it.

Your comments as a non South African forming your opinions based on talking to people seeking to justify their decision for leaving is very biased. The statement that "all" South Africans with higher degrees leave South Africa is simply untrue. There are many educated South Africans who leave and many who stay and there are many who return. Your specific focus on private security companies based on anecdotes from South Africans abroad is simplistic.

The future of South Africa is not pre ordained and the future of the country will be determined by those who live in it not those who complain from abroad. South Africans are resourceful and dynamic and have a long history of protesting injustice and unfairness from the government to force change for the better. What is happening now is just a continuation of this process in a vibrant and messy democracy.